FIG. 1 illustrates an electric motor 1 comprising a stator 2 and a permanent-magnet rotor 3. The stator 2 comprises a stator core 4 about which a winding 5 is wound. The stator core 4 comprises two poles 6,7 arranged on opposite sides of the rotor 3. When the rotor 3 is in the position of maximum torque, magnetic saturation occurs at the edges of the poles 6,7. In order to avoid magnetic saturation, the edges of each pole 6,7 may be thickened. However, increasing the thickness of the edges increases the inductance of the stator winding 5.